Todd English's Surf & Turf Recipe at Kitchen of the Year

Todd English wowed the crowd at the 2012 Kitchen of the Year with his recipe of Korean-style grilled skirt steak, corn raita salad, pan-roasted lobster and corn spoon bread, and white peach and feta salad. Get the recipe here.

Chris Eckert

Korean-Style Skirt Steak

Ingredients

8 ounces skirt steak

1 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon ginger, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic, chopped

½ teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions

Whisk the soy sauce, ginger, garlic, scallions, sugar and sesame oil together and pour over the steak. Let marinate for about 2 hours, but not much longer as it will start to cure. Season the steak with salt and pepper and place on a hot grill. Cook for four minutes on each side for rare. Slice and serve on top of your favorite flavored rice.

Pan Roasted Lobster and Corn Spoon Bread

Ingredients

Serves 4 appetizers or 2 entree

For the Spoon Bread:

4 cups whole milk

2 cups fresh corn kernels

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 large egg whites

3 large eggs

½ cup unsalted butter, divided

1 tablespoon honey

For the Lobster:

2 pieces of lobster, 1 ½ pounds each

1 peeled and large white onion, chopped

1 peeled and large chopped carrot, chopped

1 branch of large celery, chopped

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup white wine

½ cup kosher salt

2 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions for the Lobster

Fill a large stock pot 2/3 full with cold water, at least 2 gallons, adding all the vegetables and salt set on high heat to boil. Allow the water to boil for one minute, and then add the lemon juice and wine. At this point, add the lobsters and set a timer for 2 minutes. Once the 2 minutes has expired, remove the lobsters from the water and break in half putting the tails in a waiting bowl of ice water and returning the head end with the claws in-tact back to boil for an additional 4 minutes. After the additional 4 minutes has expired, remove from the water again and break the claws off the body and chill them in the same ice bath. Use a scissor to cut through the shell on the underside of the tail, and then lift out the meat. Cut the tails in half with a sharp knife. For the claws, bend the lower smaller pincer shell on the claw from side to side and then pull it away from the claw. With luck, the pincer will come free and bring with it the cartilage within the claw. Break open the claw shell and remove the claw meat in one piece. Reserve the lobster meat cold in the refrigerator.

Directions for the Spoon Bread

Pre-heat an oven to 375 degrees. Combine the milk and cornmeal in a medium sauce pan, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium-high heat stirring often until the mixture thickens. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Combine sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the cornmeal mixture stirring with a whisk. Beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add eggs to cornmeal batter stirring with a whisk. Fold in the whipped egg whites.

Heat a 12- inch cast iron skillet over medium –high heat until hot. Add ¼ cup butter to pan, tilting to coat the bottom, cooking over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until the butter begins to brown. Pour batter in to the pan and bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until set. While the spoon bread bakes, combine remaining ¼ cup butter and honey in a small saucepan stirring constantly until the butter melts. Drizzle the honey-butter mixture over the top of the bread and serve immediately.

Heat a separate 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the butter allowing it to brown. This will take 2-3 minutes. Add the maple syrup and allow it to combine with the melted butter. Lower the fire to medium-low and add the lobster to the pan. Heat the lobster all the way through, with out over cooking it. This will take about 3-4 minutes. The butter-syrup mixture will create a nice glaze over the lobster. Serve immediately with the spoon bread.

Corn Raita Salad

Ingredients

Serves 6

1 cup fresh corn kernels

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon cumin

2 cups thick, Greek-style yogurt

Kosher or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a dry cast iron skillet over high heat, toast the corn. Let the corn cook about 1 minute, then scrape and stir it around the pan, until it gets browned in spots. Be careful, sometimes the corn will pop and jump in the pan. Remove to a plate to cool.

In a small bowl, combine the onion, cilantro, cumin, yogurt, and corn. Stir gently, then season generously with salt and pepper.